Garlic separator



May' 19, 194?. MENEUX ETAL 2,283,449

GARLIC SEPARATOR Filed March 29, 1940 IN VE NTOFS Charms Maneux 'Swmn @Qbhel BUrdW Louis Chau Patented May 19, 1942 osi-"ica GARLIC SEPARATOR Charles Meneux, Nantes, Sylvain Gabriel Bourdin, Angers, and Louis Chauss, Nantes, France Application March 29, 1940,`seria1 No. 326,568 In France April 15, 1939 s claims. (el. ca -9s) This invention relates to improvements in the method and milling plant described and illustrated in our co-pending application No. 266,754 which was issued as Patent 2,255,226 on September 9, 1941, of which the present application may be regarded as being a continuation in certain respects, an object of such improvements being to' separate from the coarse meal resulting from a preliminary hulling or decorticating and grinding of the corn (cereal grains of any description) containing garlic (or similar impurities) the lighter constituents such for example as bran portions before the meal reaches the actual garlic-removing stage of the milling process.

Another object of the present improvements is to eliminate said lighter constituents automatically and to make it possible to regulate at will according to practical requirements the speed or the extent of such elimination. y Still another object of the present improvements is to conduct such elimination of the lighter constituents of the coarse meal during the progress of the milling treatment'without substantially lengthening the duration of such treatment and without-requiring much extra power.

With these and such other objects and features in view as will incidentally appear hereafter, the invention comprises the novel combination of steps and the novel construction and arrangement of parts or elements that will-now g,-

be described with reference tothe accompanying diagrammatic drawing exemplifying a suitable embodiment of the same and forming a part of the present disclosure.

In the drawing:

Figure l is a diagrammatic view showing the succession oi' elements comprisedin the apparatus or plant for carrying out the processaccording to the invention.

Figure 2 is an elevational View of one of a pair i of cooperating garlic-removing cylindrical rollers showing, partly, the grooves and flutes on its l peripheral surface.

Figure 3 is a sectional View on a much larger scale showing a few of the spaced grooves on i the roller illustrated in Fig. 2, the section being taken on line 3 3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a sectional view drawn to the same scale as Fig. 3 and showing a few of the contiguous iiutes on the said roller, the section bes ing taken along the line 4-4 of Figure 2.

As illustrated by the diagram of Fig. l, the

mass of cereal grains (for example wheat or corn grains) mixed with a certain proportion (varying with crops) of garlic is subjected to a preliminary hulling or decorticating and grinding operation in a conventional grinder of known construction which is shown diagrammatically by A and comprises as essential parts cooperating cylinders a1, a2 (partly shown). The coarse meal is then fed into a tube I provided with an airtight rotary bladed valve or gate 2 adapted to rotate for example in the direction depicted by the arrow a and connected to the upper part o a ported hopper 3 provided with a door 3a and with a slanting baiile 4. The hopper Sicontains a plate or chute 5 sharply inclined in a direction reverse to that of the balile 4 and terminating at its lower end at some little distance from the bottom of said hopper. Upon this plate 5 the meal fed by the tube I and deflected by the baille Il is spread in layer form as it flows down in the hopper by gravity. The spreading action is v facilitated by the provision of spaced projections or baliles 5a sloping off the front surface of the plate 5. These bailies 5a may be advantageously of triangular outline. The back surface of the plate 5 is stepped as shown and provided with an adjustable damper 6.

Between the back surface of theplate 5 and the adjacent wall of the hopper 3 is deiined an upwardly directed air duct or chimney 'I opening at its upper end into an expansion chamber 'la connected to conventional means 1b for creating an air draft through said chimney. The lighter constituents of theV coarse meal which have been sucked up by the ascending air current thus created in the air duct 'l collect in the chamber la and they can be removed therefrom in any approved way. The upper portion of the hopper 3.is cylindrical while its lower portion is frustum shaped. The lower -end of the hopper 3l is connected to a downtake tube 8 provided at its bottomextremity with air intakes 9 the-cross section of which can be adjusted at will by slidable dampers IQ, whereby the intensity of the draft can be regulated.

Owing to this arrangement, an ascending air current or draft of regulatable intensity can be created through the downtake tube 8 and uptake duct 6 along the path shown by the arrows. This draft is of suilicient intensity to lift and separate most of the lighter -constituents (for example bran) of the meal which ows down the tube 8 while allowing the heavier constituents (mostly coarse iiour and garlic or similar impurities)V to continue their downward travel.

At its egress from the lower outlet of the tube 8, the meal, freed as above stated of most of its' lighter constituents, follows'the downward'path depicted by the arrow II and reaches an underlying roll I2 which cooperates with a slightly spaced companion roll I3 rotating in the same direction to form a distributor mounted over a trough I4 adjacent the frame wall I5. The purpose of such distributor is to form the mass of grains mixed with garlic into sheet or layer form and to feed such sheet by gravity (as shown by the line I6) between the rigid cylindrical rollers I'I, I8 which rotate in opposite directions under the action of any suitable drive (not shown) preferably at slightly different angular speeds. The rollers II, I3 are in substantially tangentialrelation.

The purpose of the cooperating-rollers I-, I3.

is to remove or pickup the garlic seeds scattered amidst the meal of cereal grains'from' said meal as the latter passes through said rollers. This resultis obtained in the embodiment illustrated by providing the roller I 8 with grooves I9 and flutes 2i! shaped, arranged and extending as shown by Figs. 2, 3 and 41. The -grooves I9lextend at right angles to the generatrix x-m of the roller I8; they;` are separated by plain surfaces 2|'. The flutes lEll'runV at a slight Obliquity to saidgeneratrix :c-:c andarev arranged iny contiguous relationship. Thel grooves I9y and flutes 20 intersect one another toform angles having about 75 to 105". Such a-ngularities are not limitative.

The peripheral surfacev of the grooved and fluted roller I8 is rubbed by a revoluble brush 22 mounted on an axis extending parallelv to the axis of the roller I8. Thev brush 22 is actuated by frictional contact with the roller I8 and its rotary motion is slackened by the braking effect exerted by a stationary brush 23 arranged sidewise, so that the peripheral speed of the brush 22 is considerably smaller than that of the roller I8. Assuming for example the roller I8 to rotate at a speed of 350 R. P. M., the brush22 may turn at a speed'of 60 tov80 R. P. M. to properly exercise its action. v

The brush 22 may have any suitable shape and size and it may be arranged to rub either the roller I8 or the roller I'I. Its bristles are constituted advantageously by goose feathers and/or piassaba fibres. The purpose of the brush 22 is to strip olf or eject the garlic seeds from the grooves I9 and flutes 20 by which they are picked up on the roller I8. Such result is obtained with more certainty owingto the fact that the preliminary decorticating action to which the grain mixture is subjected hulls the garlic seeds and uncovers their pulp which is somewhat tacky, whereby they canbe seized more easily bythe bristles of the brush 22.

The function of the stationary brush 23 is both to slacken the speed of the brush 22 and to strip or doi its bristles.

The garlic seeds that are ejected from the roll'- er I8 by the action of the brush 22 fallas shown by the line 24 while carrying with them a small proportion of bran and meal. Simultaneously, the cereal grains freed from the garlic seeds leave the cooperating rollers I7 and I8 and fall by gravity along the path depicted by the line 25. The paths 24 and 25 followed by the respective substances are separated bya partition 26 to be prevented fromv intermingling back.

The path 24 leadsat 2'I'to the hopper 28 of a separating device 29 the purpose of which is to .sort the garlic seedsfrom `the remaining. bran and meal carried thereby. Such separating device may be of any known type and may comprise for example a plane sieve as used for separating groats from semolina or other meal components,V and a fan adapted to remove the several portions of bran. The garlic seeds are discharged at 3U while the bran is collected at 3| and the meal is collected at 32.

The path 25 leads toa grinding device which may be made up of a pair of tangential cylinders 33, 34 capable of further grinding the meal to the state of a finer flour. One or more pairs of such grinding cylinders may be provided to operate either in series or in parallel. 'I'he flour leaving, the grinding device follows the path de- Apictedby the line 35 and meets the substances which come from the separating device 29 as shown at 36. The mixed substances then reach at*3-I thebolting stage (not shown) which may take place in any known Way.

As will be seen, the garlic seeds are removed from the cereal grains during the course of the milling operations that is to say intermediate several grinding stages after most of thelighter constituents of the meal have been blown 01T, so that the present method and apparatus can be suitably incorporatedwith a milling plant.

'The constructional details of the apparatus might vary without departing from the scope of the subjoined claims.

What is claimed is:

1. The hereinbefore described method of milling and separating garlic from corn comprising the steps of preliminarily grinding said corn to obtain a coarse meal, spreading said meal into a la-yer, causing an air draft to impingev said layer in counter-current so as to blow away the lighter constituents of the corn, leading the meal between revoluble rigid members one at least of which has a garlic-picking surface and is doffed by friction means, separately collecting the garlic and the clean meal,v and subjecting the clean meal to further grinding.

2. In a milling plant comprising means for preliminarily grinding corn containing garlic to a coarse meal, means receiving the coarse meal from saidrst means and including an enclosure for spreading said meal into a layer, means for causing an air draft to impinge said layer in counter-current, a pair of revolubleA rigid members between Ywhich the meal is fed from said enclosure,` one at least of said members having a garlic-picking surface, friction means doffng said surface, means for separately collecting the garlic off the friction means and the clean meal off the outlet side of said revoluble members, and grinding means for bringing said clean meal to a state of greater neness.

3. In a millingl plant comprising grinding means for preliminarily converting corn containing garlic to a coarse meal, means receiving the coarse meal from said first means and including an enclosure connected thereto for spreading said meal into a layer, means associated with said enclosure for causing an air draftr to impinge said layer in counter-current, a pair of revoluble rigidv members located under the en closure so as to receive-between them the layer of meal fed by gravity from said enclosure, one at least of said members` having agarlic-picking surface, friction means doing said surface, means for separately collecting` thegarlic olf the frictionmeans andthe clean meal off the .outlet side of saidrevoluble members,` and further grinding means-.located for receiving said clean meal and bringing it to a state of greater neness.

4. In a milling plant comprising means for hulling and grinding a mass of cereal grains mixed with garlic to obtain a coarse meal, an air-tight gate receiving said meal and communicating with one end of an enclosure, means in said enclosure for spreading said meal into layer form while it ows through it, tubular means connected to the other end of the enclosure, said spreading means defining in conjunction with the wall of the enclosure an air duct, means for creating an air draft through said tubular means and air duct, a pair of cooperating rigid rollers so located as to receive between them said coarse meal as it comes out of said tubular means, one at least of said surfaces having intersecting grooves of such a size as to pick up the garlic, movable friction means in contact with the grooved roller, stationary friction means dong the first-named friction means, and means for separately collecting the garlic ejected oi the friction means and the clean meal devoid of garlic from the outlet side of said rollers.

5. In a milling plant comprising primary grinding means for converting a mass of corn mixed with garlic into a coarse meal, an air-tight gate connected to said grinding means and communicating with the top of an enclosure, means in said enclosure for spreading said meal into layer form while it falls through it by gravity, tubular means connected to the bottom of the enclosure, said spreading means defining in conjunction with the wall of the enclosure an air duct for the escape of the lighter constituents of the coarse meal, means for creating an ascending air draft through said tubular means and duct, a pair of cooperating rigid rollers so located as to receive between them said coarse meal as it falls out of said tubular means, one at least of said rollers having intersecting grooves and utes to pick up the garlic, movable friction means in contact with one of said rollers, stationary friction means doffing the first-named friction means, means for collecting the garlic ejected oi the friction means separately from the clean meal flowing from the outlet side of said rollers,- and secondary grinding means located to receive said clean meal and to convert it into finer meal.

6. In a milling plant comprising grinding means for preliminarily converting corn containg ing garlic into a coarse meal, an air-tight gate connected with said grinding means, an enclosure having its inlet connected to said gate, a baiiied plate slanting from a position underlying the enclosure inlet for spreading the meal into a layer in said enclosure, tubular means having air intakes and communicating with the outlet of said enclosure, an air draft duct defined by said plate and by the wall of the enclosure, means for creating said draft, means for regulating the intensity of said air draft, a pair of revoluble rigid rollers receiving the meal coming out of said tubular means, one at least of said rollers having a garlic-picking surface, friction means dofng said surface, means for separately collecting the garlic off the friction means and the clean meal off the outlet side of said rollers, and further grinding means located to receive said clean meal and to convert it to greater neness.

7. In a milling plant comprising grinding means for preliminarily converting corn containing garlic into a coarse meal and delivering said meal through an outlet, an air-tight rotary bladed valve connected with said outlet, a hopper having its inlet connected to said gate, a baffled plate sharply slanting in said hopper from a position adjacent its inlet for spreading the meal into a layer therein, tubular means having air intakes and communicating with the outlet of said hopper, a duct dened in said hopper between said plate and the wall of the hopper, means for creating an air draft through saidv tubular meansand duct, means for regulating the intensity of the air draft, Ia pair of revoluble rigid rollers the inlet crotch of which receives the meal flowing down from said tubular means, one at least of said rollers having a garlic-picking knurled surface, friction means doing said surface,means including 4an upstanding partition extending downwards from the vicinity of the frictional rollers for separately collecting the garlic oi the friction means and the clean meal off the outlet crotch of said rollers, and further grinding means located for receiving said clean meal and for converting it to greater neness.

8. In a milling plant comprising grinding means for preliminarily converting corn containing garlic into a coarse meal, an air-tight gate receiving said meal from said grinding. means, an upst'anding hopper having a top aperture con.. nected to said gate, a baflle slanting from the edge of said aperture, an inclined plate extending downwards in said hopper from a position adjacent said aperture and at an Obliquity reverse to that of said slanting baiiie, said plate terminating at a distance from the bottom of the hopper, spaced projections on the plate, an upstanding air pipe having regulatable air intakes at its lower end and connected at its upper end with the bottom of the hopper, the back surface of said plate defining in conjunction with the wall of the hopper an air duct, means for creating an ascending air draft through said pipe and duct, damper means in said duct for regulating the intensity of said draft, an expansion chamber connected to the upper end of said duct, a pair of revoluble rigid rollers receiving the meal owing down through said pipe, one at least of said,

rollers having a, garlic-picking knurled surface, friction means doing said surface, means for separately collecting the garlic seeds oif the friction means and the clean meal oif the outlet crotch of the rollers, and further grinding means located for receiving said clean meal and for converting the same to a state of greater fineness.

CHARLES MENEUX. SYLVAIN BoURpIN. LOUIS CHAUSSE. 

